JP\/17\/WEDDIN<\/p>\n
A simple, complete royal Javanese wedding ceremony<\/p>\n
Sri Wahyuni
\nThe Jakarta Post\/Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
Most people perceive Javanese traditional wedding ceremonies,
\nespecially ones held for royal weddings a palace, to be drawn-
\nout, exhausting and meticulous, despite the pomp and splendor.<\/p>\n
Yet, in fact, to have such a grand wedding ceremony yourself
\ndoes not need to be exhausting, while at the same time
\nmaintaining the sacred values of the rituals, and adhering to the
\npakem, or agreed reference, for conducting the ceremony.<\/p>\n
What was presented during the Wedding Fair 2005 held last
\nweekend at the Santika Jogja Hotel here is such an example.<\/p>\n
Called the Paes Ageng Yogyakarta-style wedding, which is a
\nsimplified version of the wedding ritual performed at the
\nYogyakarta Palace that takes days to finish, this one took only
\nsome 45 hours to conduct. Yet, it had all the processions that
\nsuch a traditional wedding ceremony requires.<\/p>\n
\"The main idea of holding this fair, apart from maintaining
\nlocal culture, is indeed to provide people with inspirations that
\nJavanese traditional wedding does not have to be meticulous and
\ntiring,\" the hotel's public relations officer Erma Wheny
\nHertuti told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
A Javanese traditional wedding, according to Artyandari of the
\nYogyakarta-based Asri Wedding Service that performed the Paes
\nAgeng wedding ceremony last Saturday, consists at least 12 main
\nprocessions, each of which has its own meaning.<\/p>\n
\"It's not that we believe that the processions are a guarantee
\nof a good marriage. Rather, they (the processions) represent
\nsymbols on how to make the marriage a good one,\" Artyandari, who
\nis finishing his post graduate (S2) study on humanities at Gadjah
\nMada University's School of Cultural Sciences, explained.<\/p>\n
The ritual begins with the tebus pisang sanggan and kembar
\nmayang processions during which an elder member of the couple's
\nfamily brings a bunch of bananas and other accessories to the
\nlocation of the wedding, followed by another elder who brings in
\ntwin decorations made of mainly young, yellow, coconut leaves
\ncalled kembar mayang.<\/p>\n
\"The processions symbolize the cleansing of the path that has
\nto be passed through by the bride and groom, which is the task of
\nthe elder members of both families,\" Artyandari said.<\/p>\n
It is then followed by the panggih procession during which the
\nbride is met by the groom to undergo another series of
\nprocessions including balang-balangan gantal (throwing betel
\nleaves at each other), ranupada (where the bride washes the
\ngroom's feet), and the egg smashing ritual, before both are
\nescorted to the dais to perform other processions.<\/p>\n
In the balang-balangan gantal procession, the bride throws
\nbetel leaves at the groom's chest, while the groom throws them on
\nto the bride's forehead. It symbolizes the bride's hope for a
\n\"wide-chested\" (patient) husband and the groom's hope for a
\nmature, thoughtful wife.<\/p>\n
The ranupada procession symbolizes the bride's willingness to
\nbe a devoted wife and to help her husband through difficult
\ntimes.<\/p>\n
Egg smashing, which is done by the bride's makeup woman,
\nsymbolizes the breaking of both the bride's and groom's mind and
\nthought as an expression of their readiness to enter into the new
\nepisode of their life. It also symbolizes the couple's readiness
\nto raise a family.<\/p>\n
The couple is then escorted, walking side-by-side, to the dais
\nto perform kacar-kucur, dhahar klimah, water drinking, and
\nsungkeman processions.<\/p>\n
The kacar-kucur procession, in which the groom pours a mixture
\nof various beans, yellow rice, and coins into the bride's hands,
\nsymbolizes the husband's duty to support the family.<\/p>\n
The dhahar klimah procession during which the groom feeds
\nballs of rice and cooked chicken liver to his bride, symbolizes
\nthe groom's pledge to become a devoted husband who will love his
\nwife with all his heart. (The Javanese word for liver is hati,
\nwhich is also the word for heart).<\/p>\n
Both are then required to drink clear water to symbolize the
\nclearness of their hearts, thoughts and minds to live their life.<\/p>\n
After this, it's then the turn of the bride's parents to
\nperform the mapag besan (fetching the in-laws) procession.<\/p>\n
They fetch the groom's parents, seat them on prepared seats
\nnext to the dais and allow them join the next procession of
\nsungkeman, where the bride and groom show respect to their
\nparents by kneeling and pressing their faces onto their parents'
\nknees.<\/p>\n
The last procession is nglorot manten, where the bride and
\ngroom are allowed to leave the wedding to go to their prepared
\nroom.<\/p>\n
\"For Muslim couples, we also prepare Muslim costumes for this
\nparticular Paes Ageng wedding ceremony,\" Artyandari said.<\/p>\n
Apart from the royal Paes Ageng wedding ceremony, the two-day
\nfair also presented various selections of simplified, yet
\nfashionable kebaya (Javanese traditional dresses) and skirts
\nspecially designed for modern, practical people to wear on their
\nwedding.<\/p>\n
\"We offer alternatives for those who don't want to be troubled
\ntoo much with details,\" said designer Tommy Tri Gunawan, who
\npresented some of his wedding kebaya and dress designs.<\/p>\n
Tommy said that with such designs one would not need hours to
\ndo the makeup as the kebaya and skirts had been designed in such
\na way so that they could be put on in much the same way as
\nordinary dresses.<\/p>",
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